This invention relates to a stacked electrical connector assembly for mounting on a circuit board and in particular to an assembly which can include standard electrical connectors and standard pin headers of various types or sizes.
There is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,239 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,856, means for stacking multi contact electrical connectors in superposed relationship for mounting on a circuit board. Such means comprise a pair of metal brackets for supporting the connectors in their superposed relationship and a pin extension member comprising an insulating housing with electrical contact elements therein for mating with the upper connector of the stack to connect the contact elements thereof to conductors on the printed circuit board. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,239, the metal brackets each comprise a plate having at opposite ends thereof flanges which are secured to mounting ears at the ends of the connectors. The metal brackets are disposed between the stacked connectors, and so do not engage the circuit board and are not intended to be secured thereto. The stack is attached to the circuit board only by inserting pins projecting from the pin extension member and from the bottom connector of the stack into plated through holes in the circuit board. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,856, the metal brackets are right angled brackets, the upper parts of which are secured to respective mounting ears at the ends of the connector and the transverse parts of which are secured to the circuit board by means of spring metal fasteners. Both of the references teach that the pin extension member is necessarily rigid and the insulating housing must be dimensioned in accordance with the spacing between the upper and lower connectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,015 discloses the use of the flexible circuit interconnector for connecting projecting contact tails of a multi-contact electrical connector to a circuit board. Each conductor of the flexible circuit is soldered to a respective one of the contact tails and is also soldered to a respective conductor of the printed circuit board. No means are provided for stacking the connector with any other connector.
A stacked electrical connector assembly in which a longer electrical connector is mounted over a shorter electrical connector with two L-shaped brackets secured to the upper, longer connector with only one end of the shorter, lower connector secured to an supported by an L-shaped bracket is known. The second end of the shorter, lower connector floats and is not secured to any structure in the stacked electrical connector assembly. The upper connector of the known stacked electrical connector assembly has solder tails which are long enough to extend through a spacer plate positioned behind and at the same elevation as the lower connector.